While three war protesters headed to court Wednesday to challenge new McLennan County ordinances banning roadside camping and restricting parking in a large area around the President’s Central Texas ranch, others pitched tents on a roadside to court arrest and they succeeded.

About a dozen protesters arrived before daybreak Wednesday to pitch tents alongside a rural road near Crawford in defiance of a new county ordinance that bars temporary structures in any county ditch.

A McLennan County deputy sheriff warned the protesters that the tents violated the ordinance, but after the protesters continued to defy the restriction, deputies began to make arrests.

About a dozen protesters were arrested, largely without incident, although two had to be carried by deputies.

They were taken to the McLennan County jail.

Cindy Sheehan, the California woman whose roadside vigil in August attracted international attention, was not there, but was expected to join the group by the end of the week after being delayed by a family emergency.

Meanwhile Texas Civil Rights Project attorneys headed to federal court in Waco to seek a temporary restraining order barring the county from enforcing the new ordinances.

President and Mrs. Bush arrived Tuesday evening in Waco on their first trip to their ranch since Hurricane Katrina struck in August.

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